Category: history
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Hidden Natural Histories
It is quite special to get a behind-the-scenes view at a museum. Now in Vienna, one can do so from the comfort of one´s cinema chair: Archiv der Zukunft is a new film by Joerg Burger that offers insights into the collections and work of Vienna´s Natural History Museum, the NHM Wien. Last week I…
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The brand-new Pratermuseum
I had the pleasure of attending a preview into Vienna´s brand new Prater museum, which opened last week The museum is one of the several Wienmuseum (Vienna Museum) locations. The old location at the Planetarium has been closed for a couple of years, while construction of a new modern venue and restoration works of some…
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The State on Trial: Asylum Tribunal
All things are well with asylum processes and rights in my home country, are they not? This, at any rate, is often the official government line. Of course it all depends whose side you are on. The current performances by Theaterkollektiv Hybrid on Vienna´s Judenplatz in cooperation with Werk X-Petersplatz, pitch the side of the…
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Heavy metal fashion
Imagine being weighed down by a suit made of iron or steel. Actually, as I was told during a tour of the current exhibition at Vienna´s Kunsthistorisches Museum, KHM, men wearing these metal carapaces were able to walk, run and jump in it. That must have taken some muscle power, in addition to agility, but…
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A time of transition – The Age of Dürer
Currently at the Belvedere Museum there is a new exhibition of art from an often neglected period: the time of transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when artists were beginning to develop new themes, beyond the exclusive focus on religious themes, and new techniques such as a move towards showing depth and perspective.…
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Better times at the Belvedere
The Belvedere Museum is another favourite of mine, and so right after lockdown I visited the new exhibition at the Upper Belvedere, at a time when there were very few people so that I had rather privileged views of the exhibitions and also of the beautiful architecture. This place is very crowded when tourists are…
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The pale mountains
As for many of us the global Covid-19 pandemic put a spanner in the travel works, we decided on a trip closer to home than the one originally planned. We spent last week in the South Tyrolian Alps, between Toblach and Dorf Tirol. Here I share some of my impressions and my photography.
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Stones that speak
On Friday I showed you bits of my neighbourhood, which was created during the days of working class housing- and food shortages that followed World War I and the breakup of the Habsburg Empire. But of course this problem extended to all of Vienna, and the cooperative garden settlements that were built in the 1920s…
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Close to home
Like many of us, the COVID-19 spread prevention measures for me have meant a lot of time spent at home, where I can fortunately continue to work (in home office), enjoy culture (via innumerable streams from the wonderful world of cultural institutions), exercise (with regular live streams of Pilates, yoga and Zumba classes), and take…
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Tricky imperial mysteries at the KHM
I like both a good mystery and art. So I was thrilled to be invited to join a new “mystery hunt” game at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna: The Emperor´s magic circle (“Der magische Kreis des Kaisers“) – the title alone conjured up images of conspiracies and bewitching secrets in my brain. What would it take,…
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